Now Muhammad, John the Baptist, Joseph Smith, and Glenn Beck all have something in common. They have all at some point claimed to be a messenger of God.
Yesterday Glenn Beck used 15 minutes of his radio show to explain how God was directing him to take on the progressives. Included were the following claims:
(1) Beck claimed to be able to “feel” a “darkness” surrounding the country. An impending doom which some spirit was communicating to him.
(2) Beck claimed that God was giving him a plan. Then Beck backtracked a bit and said there was no specific plan but instead merely general guidance which God was communicating through him to “articulate” to the rest of the population.
(3) In explaining the Van Jones story. Beck says that God directed him to start look up what sounded like “Katrina and Van Jones” on the internet. Beck states, “I bet he played a role.” Beck admits to looking into Van Jones with a predisposed belief against the special adviser to the President.
(4) Beck then discusses how his friend told him a Bible verse which Beck claims “clearly” applies to Van Jones. The verse in question is Malachi 3:11 which states:
“I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear fruit, says the Lord of hosts.”
Beck completely dismisses the possibilities that (1) the verse has absolutely no relation to Van Jones, since after all it was written thousands of years before Van Jones was born and (2) that Beck was misinterpreting the verse since he was already predisposed to find bad information on Van Jones. The only basis for Beck applying the verse to Van Jones is the supposed spiritual guidance Beck was given by God.
(5) Finally, Beck quotes yet another verse about anger but does not provide the citation for it. He once again preaches as to the supposed meaning of the verse in the political world. In the meantime, Beck completely discounts the spiritual meaning of the verses.
There is absolutely no problem with Beck using spiritual guidance for his own life. However, Beck goes even further in claiming that he is effectively communicating for God to his audience. This puts Beck in a very powerful position. After all, if you speak for God you effectively become God. Everything you say, by definition, must be right, and anyone who opposes you must be wrong.
In addition, Beck shows no ability to have any constraints on this supposed guidance from God. All of us can follow a spiritual “feeling” we have but if that feeling is also not placed with the bounds of some kind of scripture, and the some kind of Church authority, than we are really guiding our own dangerous ship. Jim Jones had a feeling that God was telling his group to commit mass suicide. What makes Beck’s feeling anymore legitimate than Jones? Rather than using scripture to form his beliefs, Beck seems to be finding scriptures, and interpreting them in such a way to fit a pre-determined notion he already has.